INSTITUTIONAL GOALS AND PHILOSOPHICAL ORIENTATIONS OF CONSTITUENCIES OF A PRIVATE COLLEGE
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to determine and compare perceptions of administrators, faculty, main campus students, and off-campus students at College M concerning the goals of the college, as well as the philosophical orientations of the respondents. DISCREPANCIES between the goals that were perceived as actually existing (IS goals) and those goals that were preferred (SHOULD BE goals) by the respondents were examined. The study also attempted to determine whether significant relationships existed between the DISCREPANCIES regarding the goals of the college and the orientations of the respondents with regard to four main philosophical systems, namely, idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism. Some of the major conclusions of the study were: (1) IS means of medium importance for the 20 goal areas common to the four college groups were Academic Development, Vocational Preparation, and Intellectual Skills; SHOULD BE means of high importance common to the four college groups were Intellectual Skills and Academic Development. (2) in the area of philosophical orientation, each of the college groups registered highest means in pragmatism and existentialism, and lesser importance was attached to both idealism and realism; (3) first quartile rankings of means of IS goals indicated that all groups agreed that highest priorities were currently being assigned to Academic Development, Vocational Preparation, and Intellectual Skills; first quartile rankings of SHOULD BE goals indicated the highest priorities should be assigned to Intellectual Skills and Academic Development; first quartile rankings of DISCREPANCY means were high in the goal areas of Self-Understanding and Interpersonal Skills; DISCREPANCY means indicated that administrators and faculty perceived a greater need for goal area change than did students; (4) comparison of IS means of responses within the 20 goal areas revealed a significant difference for only one goal area, Academic Development; comparison of SHOULD BE means revealed significant differences in two goal areas, Academic Development and Student Social Environment; significant differences in DISCREPANCY means were found in six goal areas: Intellectual Skills, Ethical/Moral Orientation, Cultural/Aesthetic Awareness, Continuing Education, Campus Community, and Planning. Statistical techniques employed included means, standard deviations, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, and Scheffe post hoc analysis.
Subject Area
Higher education
Recommended Citation
KILGANNON, MARY AGNES, "INSTITUTIONAL GOALS AND PHILOSOPHICAL ORIENTATIONS OF CONSTITUENCIES OF A PRIVATE COLLEGE" (1985). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8600089.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8600089
